Grants Announcement: Arnold Ventures Criminal Justice Research Grants During the Third Quarter of 2025 Demonstrate Its Commitment to Innovation

Expanding the scope and scale of criminal justice research ensures that potentially promising ways to improve public safety and community well-being are not missed.

Houston, TX (October 22, 2025)— In the third quarter of 2025, Arnold Ventures (AV) awarded more than 20 new research grants through its open request for proposals (RFP) for criminal justice research. These grants, totaling more than $5 million dollars, demonstrate the philanthropy’s ongoing commitment to examining all factors that may play a role in preserving public safety, reducing crime, and improving outcomes for people who interact with the criminal justice system. 

The third quarter grants support research in a variety of areas, including the effects of parental job loss, housing mobility programs, parental incarceration, criminal convictions, college education, violence prevention programs, and urban tree coverage on criminal justice outcomes. 

Grant awards also focus on determining the effects of judicial discretion, non-prosecution, and gun diversion programs; court reminders by text message; law enforcement drone technology; supportive housing programs; algorithmic risk assessment tools; post-incarceration supervision; and more. 

“In order to find effective, scalable ways to reduce crime and improve public safety, we need to think outside the box,” said Jennifer Doleac, executive vice president of Criminal Justice at AV. ​“In addition to conducting more and better research on traditional criminal justice interventions, we must continuously test new ideas and policies and expand our research into sectors that have not commonly been considered relevant to the criminal justice system.”

Examples of funded grant applications are included here. This release covers a subset of grants that were committed, awarded, or fully executed in the third quarter of 2025. It is intended to be illustrative of the work that AV is funding in the criminal justice field and serve as a resource for academics and practitioners who might be interested in applying for funding or in the outcome of previously funded research. It is not a comprehensive summary of AV’s Criminal Justice grantmaking. Grant amounts are rounded to the nearest hundred dollars. 

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Arnold Ventures is a philanthropy that supports research to understand the root causes of America’s most persistent and pressing problems, as well as evidence-based solutions to address them. By focusing on systemic change, AV is working to improve the lives of American families, strengthen their communities, and promote their economic opportunity. Since Laura and John Arnold launched their foundation in 2008, the philanthropy has expanded, and Arnold Ventures’ focus areas include education, criminal justice, health, infrastructure, and public finance, advocating for bipartisan policy reforms that will lead to lasting, scalable change. The Arnolds became signatories of the Giving Pledge in 2010.

Community Safety

Name: Neighborhood Effects and Crime: Evidence from Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Housing Mobility Programs
Description: This project uses 2 studies, a randomized controlled trial (RCT) and a natural experiment, to evaluate the causal impact of housing mobility programs on long-run criminal justice outcomes.
Geographic Focus: Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City
Grant Recipient: University of Notre Dame du Lac
Principal Investigator(s): Eric Chyn, Robert Collinson, Danielle Sandler
Term: 2025 — 2027
Amount: $99,400

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Name: Examining the Direct and Intergenerational Effects of Parental Job Loss on Socioeconomic Well-Being and Interactions with the Criminal Justice System
Description: This project uses difference-in-differences to study the effects of parental job loss on criminal justice and economic outcomes for parents and their children.
Geographic Focus: 29 states
Grant Recipient: Regents of the University of Colorado
Principal Investigator(s): James Reeves, Andrew Joung
Term: 2025 — 2029
Amount: $197,200

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Name: Non-Pecuniary Returns to College
Description: This project uses a regression discontinuity design to study the effect of college education on criminal justice outcomes.
Geographic Focus: Texas
Grant Recipient: The University of Texas at Austin
Principal Investigator(s): Jeffrey Denning, Emily Leslie, Jack Mountjoy, Cody Tuttle
Term: 2025 — 2027
Amount: $247,200

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Name: Informing urban equity initiatives: The causal effects of urban trees on community safety and crime
Description: This project uses instrumental variables to measure the causal impact of urban tree coverage on crime.
Geographic Focus: Milwaukee (WI) and Chicago (IL)
Grant Recipient: University of Utah
Principal Investigator(s): Alberto Garcia, Jacob Gellman, Michelle Lee
Term: 2025 — 2027
Amount: $155,600

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Name: Long-Term and Health Impacts of Violence Prevention Programs: Evidence from READI Chicago
Description: This project uses a randomized controlled trial to estimate the long-term effects of a community violence intervention, READI, on serious violence involvement and health outcomes.
Geographic Focus: Chicago (IL)
Grant Recipient: University of Chicago
Principal Investigator(s): Monica Bhatt, Max Kapustin, Sara Heller
Term: 2025 — 2027
Amount: $287,800

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Name: Statewide Pretextual Stop Restriction and Social Welfare
Description: This project uses a regression discontinuity design to estimate the impact on policing and public safety outcomes of a California policy restricting the use of pretextual stops.
Geographic Focus: California
Grant Recipient: San Diego State University Foundation
Principal Investigator(s): Kyutaro Matsuzawa
Term: 2025 — 2026
Amount: $126,300

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Name: An Evaluation of Drone as First Responder Programs in U.S. Policing
Description: This project uses a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the impact of ​“Drone as First Responder” deployments on policing outcomes including arrests, response time, and use of force.
Geographic Focus: Maryland and Pennsylvania
Grant Recipient: University of South Carolina
Principal Investigator(s): Scott Mourtgos, Jerry Ratcliffe, Ian Adams, Eric Dlugolenski
Term: 2025 — 2027
Amount: $291,500

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Name: Denver Supportive Housing Social Impact Bond: Long Term RCT Outcomes
Description: This project uses a randomized controlled trial to measure the long-term impact of permanent supportive housing on criminal justice outcomes.
Geographic Focus: Denver, CO
Grant Recipient: Urban Institute
Principal Investigator(s): Devlin Hanson
Term: 2025 — 2030
Amount: $324,700

Courts

Name: The Effects of Judicial Discretion in Pre-Trial Detention and Cash Bail: A Causal Analysis Study
Description: This project uses difference-in-differences to measure the causal effects of a standardized monetary bond schedule established by Florida House Bill 1627.
Geographic Focus: Florida
Grant Recipient: Institute for the Quantitative Study of Inclusion Diversity and Equity
Principal Investigator(s): Chad Topaz, Zofia Stanley, Aaron Chalfin
Term: 2025 — 2027
Amount: $300,000

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Name: Assessing the Effectiveness of Gun Diversion Programs: A Multisite Study
Description: This project uses a natural experiment in Illinois as well as randomized controlled trials in New York, Texas, and Washington, D.C. to evaluate the impact of prosecutor-led diversion programs for non-violent gun offenses.
Geographic Focus: Illinois, New York, Texas, and Washington, D.C. 
Grant Recipient: University of Chicago
Principal Investigator(s): Matthew Epperson, Aaron Gottlieb
Term: $549,400
Amount: 2025 – 2029

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Name: Examining the Socioeconomic Consequences of Misdemeanor Non-Prosecution
Description: This project uses difference-in-differences to study the effects of misdemeanor non-prosecution on criminal justice and economic outcomes.
Geographic Focus: King County, WA
Grant Recipient: Regents of the University of Colorado
Principal Investigator(s): James Reeves, Nikhil Rao
Term: 2025 — 2029
Amount: $195,400

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Name: CourtChat: Impacts of a Text Message Intervention
Description: This project uses a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effects of a text message intervention on court outcomes for felony defendants.
Geographic Focus: Cuyahoga County (OH)
Grant Recipient: unBail Labs
Principal Investigator(s): Cait Kennedy, Anuj Shah, Paul Gehrig, Mary Bridget Waters
Term: 2025 — 2027
Amount: $299,900

Incarceration and Post-Incarceration

Name: Post-Incarceration Supervision in Illinois: Effects of SAFE‑T Act Reforms
Description: This project uses difference-in-differences to measure the impact of changes to supervised release brought on by the 2022 Illinois SAFE‑T Act.
Geographic Focus: Illinois
Grant Recipient: Washington University
Principal Investigator(s): Andrew Jordan, Derek Neal
Term: 2025 — 2027
Amount: $195,700

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Name: Evaluation of Ohio’s Certificate of Qualification for Housing
Description: This project uses a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of Ohio’s Certificates of Qualification for Housing.
Geographic Focus: Ohio
Grant Recipient: The Ohio State University
Principal Investigator(s): Maria Orsini, Pete Leasure
Term: 2025 — 2027
Amount: $193,200

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Name: Justice by Numbers? Algorithmic Risk Assessment Laws and Criminal Justice Outcomes
Description: This project uses difference-in-differences to evaluate the impact of state laws regulating the use of algorithmic risk assessments (ARAs). These laws govern how ARA tools are designed, adopted, and used not just for pretrial decision-making (on which most prior studies have focused) but also for sentencing, parole, and post-confinement supervision decisions.
Geographic Focus: Nationwide
Grant Recipient: Montana State University
Principal Investigator(s): Gregory Gilpin, Wendy Stock
Term: 2025 — 2028
Amount: $300,000

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Name: Parole Decision-Making Tool
Description: This project uses a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effects of a parole decision-making tool designed to reduce prison overcrowding in Iowa.
Geographic Focus: Iowa
Grant Recipient: Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska
Principal Investigator(s): Zachary Hamilton, Jennifer Tostlebe, Alex Kigerl, David Pyrooz, Stephen Billings
Term: 2025 – 2030 
Amount: $889,500

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Name: Incarceration and Family Dynamics
Description: This project uses difference-in-differences and regression discontinuity designs provide causal evidence on the effect of incarceration on family and household outcomes.
Geographic Focus: Virginia
Grant Recipient: Yale University
Principal Investigator(s): Winnie van Dijk, Aurelie Ouss, John Eric Humphries, Megan Stevenson
Term: $294,300
Amount: 2025 ‑2029

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Name: One Size Doesn’t Fit All — The Heterogeneous Effects of Prison Programs
Description: This project uses a regression discontinuity design to estimate the heterogenous effects of mandatory in-prison programs on in-custody infractions, post-release arrests, employment outcomes.
Geographic Focus: Pennsylvania
Grant Recipient: George Washington University
Principal Investigator(s): Michael LaForest-Tucker
Term: 2025 — 2026
Amount: $97,300

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Name: The Consequences of Criminal Convictions
Description: This project uses instrumental variables to study the effect of acquiring a first criminal conviction on reoffending as well as economic and social participation outcomes.
Geographic Focus: Hillsborough County, FL
Grant Recipient: Board of Trustees for the University of Alabama
Principal Investigator(s): Jacob Harris
Term: 2025 — 2028
Amount: $299,300